KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — Caretaker health minister Khairy Jamaluddin has said that Barisan Nasional (BN) can no longer depend only on rural voters, and must also learn to champion causes for the benefit of urban Malaysians.

In a video posted on his Instagram page today, Khairy said that this was part of the reason why he wanted to contest the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat in the 15th general election (GE15).

"When I look at the future trend of Malaysia I see that increasingly more Malaysians are living in cities and are moving out of ‘kampung’ areas such as Rembau,” he said, using the Malay word for "village”.

"I know that in many urban areas BN is not the voters’ choice. But if BN wants to change to a better director, we must be brave enough to offer our services in urban areas,” he said, adding that Malaysia had reached an urbanisation level of 77 per cent.

"We cannot assume that life in the city is easy... with issues such as living costs, housing costs, access to health clinics, traffic jams, public transport, flash floods, environmental issues and many more; solutions for which I will suggest in my Sungai Buloh manifesto announcement in a few days time.”

Khairy also said that Sungai Buloh’s population distribution by race is very similar to that of the national level, which makes him even keener to represent the constituency as he had "always aspired to be a Malaysian leader for all Malaysians”.

The Department of Statistics lists Sungai Buloh’s racial distribution as 78.9 per cent Bumiputera, 13.6 per cent ethnic Chinese, 7.1 per cent ethnic Indian, and 0.3 per cent others

Khairy also promised that he would bring upgrades to Hospital Sungai Buloh if he is voted in as the constituency’s MP.

Khairy was the Rembau MP for the past three terms, but was asked to step aside by Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan — who is Umno deputy president and Rembau Umno chief.

In his video today, Khairy also thanked the citizens of Rembau for their support during his past tenure as a representative.

"I apologise for all my shortcomings. I will truly miss you,” he said.